THE GREAT RESET

Forget Mercedes domination and dodgy decisions, because Fi is entering a whole new era. Simon Hucknall previews the action ahead of this weekend's season opener

- Simon Hucknall

"Last season was one of the best in the history of Formula 1. It's just a shame that the final 10 minutes undid 10 months of brilliance." Karun Chandhok, former F1 driver and now Sky F1 pundit, is typically outspoken as we look out from Silverstone's new Interactive Museum over the circuit. We're here to talk about the upcoming 2022 season and how the biggest changes in the sport's regulations for four decades will bear upon it. And since a significant chunk of those regs will have a direct effect on the cars' dynamics, we've also brought along Rob Wilson, driver coach to some of the world's best. Wilson's techniques have been adopted by around 75 drivers over the past four decades, including nine on this year's grid, so will he need to tweak his tuition?

But first, some lines need drawing. “Let's be very clear,” says Chandhok, "[then race director] Michael Masi made a mistake in Abu Dhabi. He should have asked all the lapped cars to go past on lap 56 and pulled the safety car in on lap 57; then they would have had one racing lap on lap 58. What everyone wants to know is what happened in Masi's mind in the four minutes between the 'lapped cars will not be passed' message and the next one, which said five lapped cars will be passed'.”

So how would Chandhok prevent a repeat of this incident? “If there's an accident in the last six laps of the race, just do a red flag; then you will have an entertaining finish from a standing start."